of Metal and Men
by HPdarkman229
Summary: As a man lies bloody, broken, and crippled he finds a savior in the "Metal Hunter" project. A government backed project that turns critically wounded hunters into cybernetic war machines. Fallow Vulcan Masterson as he lives throughout his augmentation, Beacon Academy, and Beyond.


So this is my first attempt at REALY trying to write a fic. I am aware its a little choppy but I am willing to take some constructive critizim. This is kind of an AU but Its not gonna stray too far from the main plot. Welp thats all I got, ~Cheers~

* * *

A fire crackled, casting a gloomy light on the destroyed husk of the once great store. A young man laid upon the ground, his arms nearly destroyed and his left eye containing a shard of glass from the jewelry display. With a great effort the young man shook off the bonds of unconsciousness and began trying to stand, but with a growing sense of dread he discovered he could not. As he looked down upon himself he found his legs had fared a similar fate to his arms, as bloody, pulverized hunks of useless flesh. However that wasn't what scared him, instead of the pain he should be feeling in his tarnished legs it was the lackthereof that set itself densely within his stomach.

With an ever growing sense of despair gripping his heart the young man mustered what strength he had left in his once powerful arms and flipped himself onto his stomach and began to weakly crawl towards the door, towards where she was. Ignoring the glass that found itself embedded in his hands he crawled, desperate to get to her.

As he reached the girl a deadness settled itself within him for she was in no better shape than he was. As the girl lay there dying, her blood pooling under her like a crimson tide, the boy weakly placed his hand in hers. Weakly she gazed at his face, comforted in death with a friendly face no matter how mangled and with a gentle sigh she embraced death. As she left the mortal plain the young man began to grow angry, then furious.

Glancing to his right the young man grasped weakly at a jagged piece of dust and began to howl through his thrashed throat, trying with all his might to gain any attention towards himself. Lady luck seemed to be at the young mans side as one of the crooks responsible for this destruction came meandering by and cockily kicked him onto his back.

Standing over the young man, the crook began to gloat on how weak he was and how easy it was to rob the store. However the young man was not listening, merely biding his time.

"Ey Mich! this fellas got some dust on em. You think the boss 'ill want some bloody dust?" The crook yelled to his partner in an accent that would be comical if not for the current situation.

"Yeah couldn't hur- Simon look out!" The man yelled before the young man plunged the piece of dust into the smaller man's stomach, shortly afterwards an explosion tore the poor crooks abdomen to bloody chunks, and unfortunately what remained of the young man's right hand along with it. With an indignant cry the smaller crook tried feebly to keep his insides from becoming his outsides and as luck would have it the V.P.D showed up and quickly detained the second criminal. The last thing the young man remembered before he fell under the spell of unconsciousness was taking the bracelet of the girl beside him.

* * *

"Beep, beep, beep" the monitor droned on and on and on, it was driving the young man crazy. It had been several weeks since the attempted robbery and the most critical wounds had just started to heal. During his first week of care the doctors had confirmed his initial fears, he was now paralyzed. The doctors say it most likely happened during his attempt to protect Artemis, the girl, his little sister.

Many congratulate him on surviving the robbery, for all accounts and purposes he should be dead. However the young man found little worth celebrating being a mute, half blind, paraplegic, with most of his arms and legs missing. Yet it could be worse, scratch that it couldn't.

"Hello?" came a masculine voice from the door. "You must be Vulcan. How are you doing" The man asked with more concern than most of the doctors he had seen.

Vulcan just grunted an answer with a tinge of annoyance at the man in front of him. He was most definitely a doctor of some sort, he just had that air of knowledge that came with a man of science. His was small, about five foot five with a complexion that pointed to a heritage of asian descent and spoke without an accent which made him slightly, homey.

"Ah right, mute...Sorry." The doctor, scientist, whatever he was said sheepishly.

"Oh where are my manners! I am Dr. Jīnshǔ and I have come with a proposition." He said a matter of factly.

Curious Vulcan tilted his head weakly for the Doctor to come closer and with a weak flourish of his hand elaborated for him to continue.

"Good, As stated earlier I am Dr. Jīnshǔ and I need your help. You see, I am creating weapons. Powerful, deadly weapons. However these weapons are not so simple as pulling a trigger no, I have discovered the secret to melding man and machine, however I must prove to my superiors that the product is useful AND effective. Mostly in the field helping wounded hunters and huntresses back on their feet, but to do that I am going to need some… test subjects." Dr. Jīnshǔ said with an almost psychotic, childlike tone.

"I need to know if you can be one of those subjects, It would be better than lying here. Having your life dictated by schedules and the whims of doctors.

Vulcan needed a second to soak all this in. On one hand he could die on an operating table losing the flesh and blood that makes him a man, or he could rot in this pit. It didn't take long for him to chose. With a mighty effort, Vulcan grabbed his communication tablet and typed out four simple words. "When do we start?"

" Good, you will leave immediately." With a grin that could be considered wolfish by some, Dr. Jīnshǔ pushed a button on his belt, sat down, and said "I think this will be the beginning of a glorious partnership."

While nervousness lingered in his stomach, Vulcan couldn't help but agree.


End file.
